social impact challenge_
nov.11-15.2022
HBCU teams of students and faculty compete for $3,000 in prize money!
BlkTech Interactive (BTI) & Lowe’s Home Improvement are looking for the best and brightest from the HBCU Nation to spend a weekend being a social innovation entrepreneur, while also earning money for yourself and your school.
This is the 2nd BTI-hosted HBCU Social Impact Hackathon to address one or more community challenges. This coming Fall Hackathon at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte with take over a weekend, wrapping up with a Pitch Event to start off Global Entrepreneurship Week – GEW2022.
WHAT IS A
HACKATHON?
A hack-a-thon is where innovative ideas and solutions to challenging problems are developed. Hackathon is a word creation of the words hack(-ing) and marathon. In this context, hacking stands for the development of an innovation and the marathon describes the format, which usually lasts 1–3 days.
The goal of a hackathon is to develop a solution for a given problem. The solution can be in different forms: it could be a pitch deck containing the concept and business model, a mockup/wireframe of an app or functioning prototypes.
(“What is a hackathon?” Earlybyte, Apr 8, 2020, Medium)
Twice a year (during Spring and Fall semesters) BlkTech Interactive (BTI) hosts an HBCU Social Impact Hackathon to specifically develop a technology solution for one of three of the following pressing community issues or challenges: improving health outcomes, education and community violence. These hackathons are in the style of “startup weekend” – taking place from Friday night through Sunday, with a pitch event on Tuesday.
HBCU’s fields a team of students, faculty and/or community members unaffiliated with a school. Each team competes for $3,000 in prize money, will be highlighted in the national media, receives coaching for larger social entrepreneurial challenges, and increase social capital for access to internships and employment.
How IT WORKS
Each HBCU drafts a team of social entrepreneurs made up of students and faculty from across schools or departments (STEAM included). Teams must have a minimum of two members. Community participants can affiliate with a with a school or be unaffiliated, although cash prizes are only available for HBCU students, any association with an HBCU provides eligibility in the hackathon.
kEY DATES
Deadline for video submissions
Top 5 Invitations to compete sent
Hackathon Weekend -- November 11-15:
- Friday 6-9PM – Kick-off & Networking
- Saturday 9AM-12PM –EntrepreCademy Bootcamp + hacking throughout the remainder of the day
- Sunday 9-11AM – Pitch Prep + hacking throughout the remainder of the day
- Tuesday 6-8PM Social Impact Pitch – this occur at the beginning of Global Entrepreneurship Week – GEW2022
This Social Impact Hackathon is being hosted virtually at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC at their Science & Innovation Center.
Complete Online Application
Submit your Video
About Black Tech
Interactive_
We intentionally convene a cross-sectional/aggregation of creatives, techies, makers, designers, scientists, thinkers, and entrepreneurs to collectively solve community challenges using technology.
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